The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Nocturnal
Mystery · Thriller · 2025
Min-tae, a once-notorious gangster who now leads a peaceful retired life, discovers the bloody corpse of his only next of kin: his younger brother Seok-tae. With his brother’s missing wife Moon-young as the prime suspect, Min-tae uncovers a suspicious last phone call between her and a mysterious novelist, sparking a vicious hunt for the truth despite his seemingly deceitful former crime syndicate and the police in hot pursuit.
Movie details
Nocturnal
“No mercy, no escape, just vengeance.”
2025 Mystery · Thriller 1h 40m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
5.0 / 10
278 votes
TMDB
6.1 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
Min-tae, a once-notorious gangster who now leads a peaceful retired life, discovers the bloody corpse of his only next of kin: his younger brother Seok-tae. With his brother’s missing wife Moon-young as the prime suspect, Min-tae uncovers a suspicious last phone call between her and a mysterious novelist, sparking a vicious hunt for the truth despite his seemingly deceitful former crime syndicate and the police in hot pursuit.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Nocturnal?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Black Rainbow
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White Night
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The Mean Season
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Kim Jin-hwang
Written by
Kim Jin-hwang
Ha Jung-woo
Bae Min-tae
Kim Nam-gil
Kang Ho-ryeong
Yoo Da-in
Moon-young
Jeong Man-sik
Chang-mo
Im Sung-jae
Byung-gyu
Heo Sung-tae
Detective Park
Lee Seol
Detective Min
Court is in session
Put Nocturnal on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.